Grab bars save lives. We train the people who install them.
The national certification and membership organization setting the standard for professional grab bar installation โ and building the credential homeowners, clinicians, and referrers actually look for.
Why We Exist
A grab bar is only as safe as the person who installs it.
Falls are the leading cause of injury for older adults in the United States. A properly installed grab bar prevents them. A poorly installed one gives a false sense of security โ and when it fails, it fails at the worst possible moment.
No national standard.
Anyone with a drill can call themselves a grab bar installer. Before GBIAA, homeowners had no reliable way to tell a trained professional from someone who watched a YouTube video.
Bad installs are common.
Under-rated anchors in drywall. Screws that miss studs. Bars placed in the wrong location for the person using them. Every one of these is a fall waiting to happen.
Good installers lumped in with bad.
Professionals who do it right compete on price with handymen who don't know what they don't know. The work looks the same on the invoice. It isn't.
Our Mission
"A grab bar in every home โ installed by someone trained to do it right."
GBIAA exists to make professional grab bar installation a recognized trade, with real training, real credentials, and real accountability. The public benefits when bars hold. Installers benefit when skill is rewarded. We're building both.
From the Founders
Who's Behind GBIAA
GBIAA wasn't dreamed up in a boardroom. It was born in the field โ amidst drywall dust and porcelain shavings โ and on the water, out of a shared frustration that a broken system was abandoning our neighbors.
Every day, while running our handyman business, Emilio and I saw hospitals discharging fragile patients back into houses that were basically fall traps. We saw builders who fought against basic safety standards because they didn't want to change how they'd always done things. It was a crisis of "home failure by design," and the people paying the price were the ones who could least afford it.
We changed our work focus and started Little Deeds Accessibility Solutions to fight back. We built a local company that brought five-star, white-glove service to the people who are usually forgotten. Partnering with powerhouse nonprofits like Meals on Wheels and Rebuilding Together, and major discharge centers like Johns Hopkins and St. Agnes Hospital, we figured out smart, affordable ways to keep people safe: precision tub cuts, standing poles, and rock-solid grab bar placements. Little Deeds quickly grew into an award-winning operation โ running with the sharp efficiency of a for-profit, but beating with the heart of a nonprofit.
But our vision went into supercharger mode during a chance dinner on the water in Annapolis.
Liz and her husband were sailing their liveaboard sloop up the East Coast and docked right next to mine and my wife Renee's sailboat. Over the warm smell of Liz's incredible homemade stuffed peppers, the conversation turned to safety and Little Deeds.
We realized our homes on land shouldn't be any different.
Liz โ an operational executive with deep roots in real estate โ listened to the mission and saw the horizon. She knew that with the right systems, this hyper-local success could scale. Sitting around that tiny boat table, the realization hit us: to truly fight back against broken discharge systems across the country, we couldn't just keep installing the bars ourselves. We had to train the nation.
That night, the three of us โ Liz, Emilio, and me โ became the "Three Musketeers" of home safety.
Together, we've taken the DNA of our award-winning local operation and forged it into the Grab Bar Installers Association of America (GBIAA) โ a national platform designed to bring a whole new level of professionalism, care, and excellence to the industry.
Greg Cantori
Co-Founder & CEO, GBIAA
Our Work Beyond Training
Building the profession, not just teaching the craft.
Training installers is where GBIAA starts. It's not where the work ends. Professional grab bar installation deserves the same recognition as any trade that affects public safety โ and we're building the infrastructure to make that happen.
A Founding Advisory Council
Leaders in aging-in-place services, occupational therapy, home modification research, and public policy are shaping GBIAA's direction โ from the U.S. and internationally. Not a logo wall. A working group of people who move this field forward.
Evidence-Based Standards
Most installation guidance comes from manufacturer minimums. GBIAA is building standards grounded in real-world outcomes from professionals actively doing the work โ closing the gap between what manuals say and what actually holds in the field.
Industry & Policy Engagement
GBIAA actively connects with aging-in-place networks, home safety organizations, and professional associations to make certified installation the recognized default. Longer term: working with Medicare Advantage plans, insurance carriers, and builders to make professional standards non-optional.
"A grab bar in every home, installed by someone trained to do it right."
That's the destination. The advocacy work is the road.
The Founders
The team behind the credential.
20-year veteran. 1,000+ installs. Zero failures.
Operations, platform, and member experience.
Partnerships, growth, and referral networks.
What This Means For Your Business
When the bar rises, certified professionals rise with it.
Our mission is safer installs nationwide. The way we achieve it is by making certified installers the obvious choice โ for homeowners, referrers, and the industry.
A credential that means something
Trained by a 20-year professional, tested on real field scenarios. Not a participation certificate โ a working standard.
A directory homeowners actually find
As GBIAA becomes the recognized body, the national directory becomes the first place homeowners and referrers look.
Referrals from the right channels
OTs, aging-in-place specialists, and home-safety networks need people they can trust to send clients to. That's the point of certification.
Direct access to technical expertise
Every member gets Emilio's phone number. Stuck on a weird wall condition in the field? Call.
A reason to charge what the work is worth
When the industry has a standard, skilled installers stop competing with handymen on price and start competing on outcome.
Industry advocacy you benefit from
GBIAA is pushing for professional installation standards nationwide โ from aging-in-place councils to insurance carriers to legislative bodies. Your membership fuels the advocacy that makes the credential matter more every year.
What We Stand For
Four things we don't compromise on.
These aren't aspirational. They're the rules every GBIAA-certified installer operates by โ the reason the credential means something.
Homes shouldn't be traps.
Every install we endorse holds when it's needed. Not most of the time. Not in most conditions. When it's needed.
Skilled work deserves skilled pay.
Certified installers don't compete with handymen on price. They compete on outcomes โ and win.
The bar holds, or it isn't done.
One failure isn't an acceptable margin of error when someone's weight is on it. Our training is built around that reality.
Professional means professional.
Clean trucks. Clear communication. Honest estimates. Respect for the client and their home. The credential isn't just about the install โ it's about everything around it.
Two paths forward.
Pick the one that fits where you're standing.
Worried about a fall?
Whether it's for you or someone you love, we can help you figure out what's actually needed — and point you toward someone who can install it right. A real person reads every request.
Get Help from GBIAA Email our support team.Are you the one doing this work?
If you install grab bars — or you're ready to start — GBIAA exists to make you the person families can trust. Earn the credential, get matched with customers, and join the only community built around this work.
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